Report: Senate Intel Committee asks agencies to keep records related to Russian probe

The Senate Intelligence Committee is requesting that agencies preserve all materials that could tie into the committee’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The Associated Press reported Sunday, citing a congressional aide, that the committee had sent formal requests to more than a dozen organizations, agencies and individuals requesting the materials related to the probe into the Russian meddling be preserved.

The intelligence panel’s chairman, Richard Burr (R-N.C.), and vice chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) sent letters out Friday, according to the AP.

FBI Director James Comey on Friday met with lawmakers from the Senate Intelligence Committee behind closed doors, amid an uproar over alleged contacts between members of President Trump’s campaign and Russian officials.

{mosads}Committee members and Comey spent nearly three hours Friday afternoon in a secure room in the Senate basement used for classified briefings.

Lawmakers refused to comment upon existing the meeting. Burr called the meeting “just a normal classified briefing.”

The committee is investigating Russian interference in the U.S. election, including probing any contact between campaign officials and Russia.

The president’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn resigned last week following revelations that he misled White House officials about the contents of a pre-inauguration phone call with the Russian ambassador, which is believed to have included talk of U.S. sanctions.

Trump and his aides have denied that there was contact between the campaign and Russia over the course of the election; the New York Times reported that campaign aides and Trump associates were in repeated contact with senior Russian intelligence officials.